Aliens, Guns, and Tony, Oh My!
by SmileandMoveOn
Summary: Charlotte is a 23 year old who, dispite searching all her life, has no idea how her powers came to be. Thalie is a 25 year old alien with no way of getting back home. When this unlikely pair attracts the attention of the Avengers at the Stark Industries Anniversary, Charlotte decides it's time to start writing things down, because her life just got a hell of a lot more complicated
1. Just the Beginning

5/4/13 3:12 am

Dear Diary,

It's pretty late now, and I've had a ridiculously long day, but I have a feeling this is going to be an extremely long first entry; I don't want to leave out one detail. My life is never going to be the same after today.

But allow me to introduce myself: I'm Charlotte Burns, physicist, geneticist, and self-proclaimed author extraordinaire. I've yet to actually publish anything yet, but it's only a matter of time before my genius is realized. I skipped first and third grade, all of junior high except seventh grade, my sophomore and junior years of high school, and graduated from college three years ago when I was twenty. It's nice to meet you.

Today's my birthday. Wait- scratch that. It was my birthday approximately three hours ago, yesterday, on May third. But a lot's happened in the last twenty-four hours, so you really can't blame me for not keeping track of the time.

So let me tell you exactly what's happened that's made my life so hectic. It all started two days ago, in a bar in the middle of Manhattan.

O_O

Charlotte giggled and bat her eyelashes at the man standing in front of her. She had forgotten his name seconds after he'd introduced himself, but from the way her was staring at her legs she could tell he definitely remembered hers.

"Why don't you say we..." The man reached out to place a hand on her hip, uncertain and slightly shy. "... Go somewhere a bit more private?" He leaned in and kissed Charlotte softly, testing his luck. Luckily for him, it was the night before her birthday and, seeing as she hadn't in months, she wanted to have sex.

Charlotte slipped her hands up his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair, sliding her tongue into his mouth. Taking this is stride, the man slung her small frame into his lap and began sucking on her tongue and mouth.

Charlotte almost pulled back and left the bar for how bad a kisser he was. He was salivating like crazy and she felt like he was eating the bottom half of her face from how far his lips were straying- something that wouldn't normally be necessarily bad were it not for his teeth digging into her skin.

But Charlotte, not wanting to hurt his feelings or destroy his self-confidence, kept kissing him until he pulled away gasping for breath.

"Wow..." He trailed off, a look of genuine surprise on his face. It seemed he honestly didn't expect her to be such a great kisser- either that or he didn't expect her to stick it out. In fact, it looked to Charlotte he was completely love struck, which might have made her laugh if he hadn't been so completely innocent and inexperienced.

Charlotte absentmindedly hummed her agreement to his "wow," glancing behind him to see her friend Thalie staring at her, questioning. The young man leaned down to kiss her neck, and Charlotte sent pleading looks her way, to which Thalie stood and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sorry to interrupt," she began, ignoring his confused and amazed look, "but we have to go." She "forcibly" grabbed Charlotte's hand and led her out the bar. Charlotte felt slightly bad when she heard a call of "your number?" through the closing doors, but logically deducted that if she went back to give it to him, she'd no doubt have to kiss him again, and she defiantly didn't want to experience that ever again.

Thalie glanced over at Charlotte, mildly amused. "So why the sudden need for escape? You prepared clothing skimpier than that used at a traditional Satuvian mating ceremony, wore those dangerous looking shoes, and flirted with the attractive human boy, so why didn't you... Go all the way?" She flipped her black hair behind her shoulder, black claws glinting in the light of the street lamps.

"He was cute," Charlotte surmised, "but he kissed like a stroke victim."

Thalie burst out laughing. "And you have that frame of reference how?"

"Oh shut it." She shook her head, lacking a comeback.

The two girls then hailed a cab and headed home to have what would be, unbeknownst to them, their last night of peace.

O_O

So, yeah. We went home, went to bed, and woke up the next morning with slight hangovers. All was normal and peaceful. In fact, Diary, I was having a pretty awesome day just staying at home continuing with my novel. But Thalie just had to bring up the date.

O_O

"How's your day been, birthday-girl?" Thalie said as she sauntered over to where Charlotte was sitting, a colorful paper bag in hand.

"Please say that's not what I think it is." Charlotte responded without looking up from her laptop.

"We'll you haven't allowed me to give you a gift to celebrate the anniversary of your birth for the past three years, so I figured your lack of acknowledgment this year was the go-ahead to do what I want." Thalie explained, shrugging as she put the gift in front of Charlotte's computer screen. "Now open."

Charlotte, annoyed with the interruption in her typing, glared at Thalie before snatching the bag out of her hand moodily. "Fine."

She ripped the top of the bag open, ignoring the tape closing the actual opening, and dumped the contents onto her lap. A navy blue book with the word "diary" written in script on the cover fell into her lap.

"When I asked the salesperson what a good gift for an emotional young woman who loves to write would be, she directed me towards these things called 'diaries,' and let me choose the color I thought you'd like best!" Thalie said, looking proud and wanting praise. With a sigh, Charlotte smiled and put the book aside, reaching over to hug her friend.

"You did good." Charlotte grinned at Thalie before ruffling her hair, taking care to avoid the other girl's sensitive horns. Thalie smiled, fangs pressing into her bottom lip. Then her face fell.

"I couldn't get the tickets." She said, overcome by a sudden bad mood. Her eyes turned a dark blue, reflecting her current emotion.

"Tickets?" Charlotte asked.

"The tickets to Stark Industries Seventy-Second Anniversary Party." Thalie admitted sadly. "I looked all over but I couldn't find anyone selling them... I was hoping we could go for your birthday..."

Charlotte thought for a moment, and then smiled sneakily. "There'll no doubt be a couple nerds without dates there." She told Thalie. "We can always dress up all pretty and see if someone will take us inside."

Thalie, excitement renewed, smiled with Charlotte. "What should we wear?" She asked.

O_O

I'd like to take a moment to clarify something. Thalie... Isn't really normal. In fact, she's not exactly human. Or from Earth.

Diary, Thalie is an alien from Sature... Somewhere in the Milky Way, as far as I know. Not even Thalie knows where it is relative to our planet. It just wasn't her job to know that kind of thing. She was a guard for the Satuvian princess- the only thing she needed to know was her sparks.

She came to Earth during an accident three years ago. She still has nightmares about her first day here, when all the people freaked out about her grey skin and red horns. Luckily, I was able to find her and take her in. She wondered why I was different from all the other humans. But the answer was just as she said.

I'm different.

O_O

"Thanks." Charlotte said, slipping the cabby the money they owed for the ride.

"Not a problem, Sweetheart." The man winked. He flipped through the small pile of bills then looked back up at her. "What? No number?" He teased.

"In your dreams." Charlotte rolled her eyes before shutting the door and turning to Thalie.

"So... What now?" Thalie asked.

"Now," Charlotte smirked, "we find the nerds."

"Charlotte!" A slightly deep voice called out. Charlotte and Thalie turned and saw the young man Charlotte had been sucking face with the night before walking up to them. "It's nice to see you again." He smiled and blushed. Damn. Charlotte had him, hook, line, and sinker.

"Hi!" She said, picking her mind for his name. Giving up, she turned to Thalie. "This is Thalie. You saw her last night."

"Oh," the man stated, looking at Thalie surprised. He hadn't noticed her in his excitement to see Charlotte. "Nice to meet you. My name's Parker." He nodded as way of greeting. Thalie mirrored him, head bobbing and curled hair bouncing.

"So do you two have tickets?" Parker looked between the girls. When they didn't answer, he smiled. "I'll take that as a no, then. But you're in luck! I'm an intern here at Stark Industries, and I happen to have two extra tickets with your names on them!" He grinned.

Charlotte shot a knowing look at Thalie, then turned to Parker and said, "thank you so much! You're a lifesaver!" She skipped over and grabbed his arm, pressing her chest up against his arm. Parker looked down at his arm and blushed at the cleavage showing from the revealing strapless red dress. "Now let's go! Come on Thalie, Parker!"

Charlotte practically dragged an almost comatose Parker to the door where he dumbly handed the bouncer the tickets, too aware of the girl on his arm to focus on much else. When they entered the party, Charlotte leaned over and kissed Parker on the cheek before thanking him again and promising to save him a dance. Once they were out of earshot, Thalie barked out a sharp laugh.

"Don't you think you laid it on a bit heavy?" She asked once she had regained her breath. "I think the poor boy wants to marry you now!"

"The only thing I'm worried about is that between my suffering through that kiss last night and meeting him here today he thinks we're destined to be together. I really don't want another obsessed stalker." Charlotte frowned at the thought, remembering the creep that had followed her for weeks before she'd aimed a roundhouse kick at his head and landed him in the hospital with a minor concussion. "But forgetting that... We got in!" A smile made its way to her lips. "We really made it in! I told you all we needed was a dateless nerd!"

"That you did, my good friend." Thalie agreed, smiling down at her friend who was much shorter than her even in five inch heels. They entered another massive doorway and was met with excruciatingly loud music and gyrating bodies.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Charlotte cheered, Thalie only hearing her over all the noise because of her advanced hearing. She didn't bother responding, as Charlotte practically ran into the throng of bodies, beginning to move her own to the rhythm. Thalie, instead of joining her friend, began to mingle with the humans talking at the edge of the dance floor. She ignored the way they openly stared at her appearance; she had a job to do.

The diary wasn't the only gift she was going to give to Charlotte.

**Author's Note: Hi guys! It's Lauren! So, how did you like it? I know it's not all that exciting now, but I have a lot planned for it, so keep your eyes open for the next chapter! Also, I'd like to know, what should I do with Parker? He's a character I added when I wasn't sure how to get Charlotte and Thalie into the party**, **but beyond that, I don't have a purpose for him. Should I just drop him? Or should I make him an adorable love-struck puppy? Tell me what you think with that comment and/or review button! (This is posted on both Deviantart and FanFiction.)**

**For those of you reading this on FanFiction, I drew both Thalie and Charlotte and posted them on Deviantart, so there are links to that on my page. And if you read this on Deviantart, again, I have them posted, so check it out. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Charlotte, Thalie, Parker, and the plot!**


	2. Where Charlotte has a Convo with Cap

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the positive feedback! Well, it's a bit of a stretch to say "all," since there are only a few of you so far, but who cares. Soon, there will be many more marveling at my genius! And so sorry for the late update; I've had this written up for a while but never got the chance to post it because I've been at summer camp for the last week and a half.**

**Here is our progress:**

**Favorites: 0**

**Follows: 3**

**Reviews: 1**

**736SHD770VB: Thanks for being the first reviewer! And for the encouragement! It means a ton! And don't worry; I'm messing with Parker's role in my head, and puppy seems to be the best fit I can think of. He'll be intelligent, but not overly so. And, of course, he can't so much as compare to any of the Avengers, which kind of limits the roles he can play. "Love Struck Puppy" is the only way I can add him without him being either a completely useless character or a character that drags the story down. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, only Charlotte, Thalie, Parker, and the plotline!**

**And just a note: this is a continuation of last chapter.**

O_O

Sorry, Diary. I nodded off for a moment there. Trying to stay awake at three a.m. is a bitch. Luckily the agents moving our things through the house woke me up. So where exactly was I? Oh, right. Thalie had just gone off to mingle.

O_O

Charlotte made her way through the crowd, hips swaying and red-painted lips murmuring lyrics to the pounding music. When a pair of hands finally found themselves on her waist, she turned to her new partner and threw her own hands around his neck, giving herself to the music and losing her inhibitions to the dance. Only when the back of her neck was sweaty and her feet and calves crying out at the thought of moving through another song did she make her way to the edge of the crowd and sit down at a small, unoccupied table.

"Red wine?" A waiter offered Charlotte a drink, and her mouth quirked up at the corners.

"Well I'm more of a vodka person, but I suppose it'll do." She said with a smile. She grabbed a wine glass off his tray and twirled it in her hand, watching the red liquid splash around the glass. "I should dye my hair this color next time…" Charlotte mused, touching her presently royal-blue hair with her free hand.

"Charlotte!" A voice snapped Charlotte out of her thoughts. Thalie was standing in front of her with a triumphant smile gracing her black lips.

"Why are you so damn tall?" Charlotte asked her suddenly, jealousy taking over her thoughts after seeing her friend towering over her. Thalie just rolled her eyes, obviously used to her friend's sudden accusations.

"Forget that! I have another surprise for you!" She said excitedly.

"Another one? Haven't you done enough already?" Charlotte deadpanned.

"You say that like I'm messing things up." Thalie pouted.

"You know I don't like my birthday. And you're spoiling me. Who knows, I might just get used to this and demand we go out dancing every night." Charlotte teased, smirking at the other girl's expression.

"Isn't once a week enough?" Thalie groaned. Then, remembering her surprise, she said, "You're really going to like it! I promise! You'll thank me for the rest of your life!" She twirled in her long green dress, thrilled at whatever she was planning on showing Charlotte.

"Well, if you're going to be _that _insistent…" Charlotte pretended to be bothered. "I might as well see what you're making this giant fuss about." She got up and smoothed her dress out before following Thalie through the small groups of people talking at the edge of the dance floor. "So what is this surprise, exactly?"

"You'll see." Thalie responded, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Shed led Charlotte away from the dance floor, to the corner of the large room, and stopped at a door that said DO NOT ENTER in big red letters.

"Um, Thal, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to go in there." Charlotte said, uncertain. What had her friend gotten her into this time?

"Trust me." Thalie smiled. She pushed the door open and walked up a thin flight of stairs, into another room. Charlotte, on the other hand, shut the door behind her and walked up the stairs, hesitating at every step. When she reached the top, she paused and turned to her friend who was leaning on the wall a few feet ahead of her.

"Thalie, why do I feel like if I walk into that room, something very, very bad is going to happen?" Charlotte hissed at her. Thalie rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Don't be so dramatic!" Thalie reached out and grabbed Charlotte's arm, pulling her into the room, where Charlotte stood stunned while Thalie smiled smugly. "See? I told you you'd love it!"

Charlotte didn't reply. She couldn't. Because she was staring at a group of people she idolized over anyone else.

The Avengers (minus Thor.)

They were sitting on plush leather couches pushed up to the wall on the other side of the room. Well, most of them were. Tony was sitting on a stool pushed up to the mini bar in the corner and Natasha was standing.

"Charlotte, breathe. That's it. Deep breaths. Do it with me. In. Out. In. Out." Thalie had her hand on Charlotte's shoulder, guiding her as she struggled to breathe. A chuckle erupted from the other side of the room. Tony Stark- as in _the _Tony Stark- was laughing at Charlotte's reaction to seeing them.

"Calm down, Charlotte. They're just people." Thalie patted her shoulder one last time before turning to the Avengers. "Sorry about her. She's, well… she's kind of obsessed with you. Meeting you is a dream she's had even before the New York Incident. She's followed every Captain America, Ironman, Hulk, and Thor incident ever recorded."

"Thalie! You're making me seem like some sort of stalker!" Charlotte blushed, embarrassed, and gripped the sides of her dress. "Besides! I have a good reason for keeping track of that stuff, and you know it!"

"Yes, I do, and that's why we're here." Thalie gestured to Dr. Bruce Banner.

"Um, Miss Charlotte?" Banner spoke up, "Would it be okay if we asked you a few questions? Alone?" He looked pointedly at Thalie, Clint, Steve, and finally, Tony.

"Why do I have to leave?" Tony pouted. "I want to interview the sexy stalker too!" But Natasha glared at him and after a begrudging "fine" he followed the others out of the room, leaving Charlotte with Dr. Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff.

"So… what's up?" Charlotte asked, her inner fan-girl quieting down because of the heaviness of the situation.

Natasha strutted over to Charlotte and grabbed her face in one hand. "Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Charlotte Burns?" Charlotte said uncertainly. Natasha's nails were digging into her cheeks.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Natasha growled and gripped her jaw even harder. "Now tell me; What. Are. You?"

"Natasha, she can't speak when you're holding her face like that." Bruce cut in. Natasha glared at him, but stepped back and let Charlotte's face go.

"I'm human." Charlotte said, rubbing her cheeks. "And you have really sharp nails. God that hurt."

"Why don't you just let me do the questioning from now on?" Bruce asked Natasha. She tensed up and nodded slightly, hand moving towards the gun strapped under her skirt in case of an emergency. Charlotte's eyes flicked to where her hand was moving, and her eyes widened.

"I'm not a threat!" She said quickly. "No need to bring out weapons that I have no idea whether or not I can disarm. Grab a knife if you absolutely have to, but please not a gun. Those things are scary." She shuddered slightly to prove her point.

"How did you know I have a gun?" Natasha asked, her grip tightening on her weapon.

"Natasha!" Bruce put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. She relaxed slightly and looked at him. After a moment, she released her hold on her gun and turned to face Charlotte again.

"Sorry. Go ahead, Bruce."

Bruce nodded and took out a clipboard with a packet of papers and a pen. "Well, let's just make this as painless and easy as possible. What can you do?"

"Uh…" Charlotte shifted uncomfortably where she was standing. "I can kinda… sorta… fly. But it's not like you might think, it's more… reversing gravity. I can levitate things too. Same concept. And my memory is… better than the average humans. And I have, well I guess you could call them visions. It's not necessarily seeing the future, but I'll randomly snap into different perspectives. So instead of seeing like I normally do, my vision will go blank for a moment and suddenly I'm viewing myself from across the room. It's helpful for things like seeing Agent Romanoff reach for her gun."

"And is there any reason for your powers?" Bruce said, looking up from where he was jotting notes. "Or any that you can tell, at least." At this, Charlotte barked out a sharp laugh.

"Dr. Banner, I'm both a physicist and a geneticist. I've spent my whole life searching for reasons why I'm different, and I haven't got a clue. Sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to figure it out either." Charlotte looked at him ruefully. "It's why I, as Thalie and Mr. Stark put it, stalk you. My powers may be linked to gamma radiation, or some special serum injected into me from before I can remember- so in the womb. But after all my testing, there are no mutations in my genes- the only thing notable about them is how normal and average they are. I am the perfect human specimen, as far as my genes go." She ran her hand through her hair.

"I… I see." Bruce said, raising an eyebrow. After writing a few more notes, he said, "Okay, we're done here, for now. Now we just need to discuss your living arrangements, so Natasha, can you go get the others?"

"Why do I always have to be the one to pry a drunken Tony off of slutty women?" Natasha groaned, getting up to leave despite her protests.

"Oh, and before you leave, I'd like this conversation to stay between us. I'd like you to respect my privacy." Charlotte stopped her. Bruce and Natasha stared at her questioningly, but nodded their heads after a moment. "Thanks for understanding!" She grinned.

O_O

So that's how my day… night went. We proceeded to figure out what would happen now that they'd found us, were forced to accept the fact that S.H.E.I.L.D. would now be watching our every movement, and, oh yeah, Thalie and I became official members of the Avengers.

But something else happened before we left that made the whole thing worth it.

O_O

"Miss Burns? Could I speak with you for a moment?" A surprisingly deep voice called out to Charlotte. When she looked up and saw the extremely handsome Captain Steve Rogers staring at her, her heart skipped a beat. Captain America had been the superhero she'd followed ever since she was a little girl, and she was, if she was being completely honest with herself, completely star struck. It also helped that he was incredibly good looking, but you know, she encountered and wooed cute guys on a daily basis, so it was more the omg-the-hero-I-idolize-over-any-other-is-actually- talking-to-me kind of heart pounding.

"Of course." She smiled at him, secretly proud that her voice hadn't wavered. She followed him to the corner of the room and they each sat down in front of the mini bar. "What's up?" Charlotte asked, hoping her makeup wasn't messed up and that he didn't think the tattoo on her shoulder was inappropriate. He was from the forties, after all, and she wasn't sure if a gigantic tattoo of a rose on a woman was appropriate for that time.

"I'm sorry that you have to put up with all of this." He said, leaning in close so that nobody else would hear. Charlotte's heart pounded just a bit harder, but she ignored it. "Thalie told us that you were… different, but harmless, so I don't think you should be forced to team up with us. And I can see you're scared of Natasha, so I'm also sorry for whatever she did when she and Bruce were talking to you."

"It's no problem!" Charlotte said cheerily, a smile making its way to her face. He was legitimately concerned about her, and it really warmed her heart. "I don't mind moving to Avengers Tower, or joining you guys. I mean, why would I be mad about meeting my idols? And Natasha didn't do anything but assure me that she's the alpha female around here, which I have no problem with. She even went out of her way to do it subtly, so it's all good. But thanks for worrying about me. You really are as nice and cute as they say, though, aren't you?"

Steve blushed scarlet. "U-um, I wouldn't go so far as to say that!" He quickly said. Charlotte giggled. His blush was reaching his ears.

"How adorable! You're blushing!" She laughed. If possible, he turned even redder.

"M-miss-!" He stuttered out.

"Please, call me Charlotte. And I'll call you Steve instead of Captain Rogers as I was just debating. It makes everything easier!" Charlotte continued smiling. Steve's blush lessened, and he smiled back.

"It'll be nice working with you, M-" He began before Charlotte interrupted him.

"Charlotte." She corrected. "It's Charlotte." She stood up. "Now, is that all you need, because I've had a lot to drink, I need to start packing, and if I stay in these shoes any longer, I'm going to die." She gestured at the pumps on her feet.

"Yes, go ahead." He nodded. As soon as he thought she was out of earshot, Steve said, "Charlotte…"

Charlotte smiled. He should've waited a little longer before saying it. She walked over to where Thalie was waiting for her with an inquiring look on her face. She knew Thalie would ask her endless questions and tease her for the rest of the night, but she didn't care.

Charlotte had just made it through a conversation with Captain America, and hadn't reacted the way, well, Steve had.

O_O

Now, Diary, that's how my night ended, besides, you know, taking forever to write all this down. But I'll be leaving here at twelve tomorrow, and that means I have to wake up by ten to get just a little writing in, so I have approximately six and a half hours to sleep, and I'll be going to bed now. See you tomorrow.

-Charlotte Burns


	3. Power Promblems and Panties

**Guys. This is serious. THERE WAS SUCH AN INCREASE IN YOU GUYS SINCE I POSTED CHAPTER 2 THAT ITS JUST INCREDIBLE! I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW! I'M ON MY WAY TO BEING DISCOVERED! :D**

…

**Sorry 'bout that…**

**I got a little excited…**

**Our Progress:**

**Favorites: 1**

**Follows: 5**

**Reviews: 3**

**736SHD770VB: Thanks! I'm honestly working really hard trying to figure out their personalities, and I'm glad they don't seem too stiff or Mary-Sue-ish. To be honest, I find it easiest to write characters with personalities that I wish I had; take Charlotte for instance. She's super smart due to her amazing memory, she's confident, she can hide her internal fan-girl with flirting, she's flirty, and, as far as I've figured out, she isn't so scared of bugs that she freaks out and falls off of the chair she was standing on while trying to kill it. And Thalie is extremely loyal, never lies, her feelings show on her face, she's rather weird due to her alien background, and when she has to be, she the strongest person out there, not just physically, but mentally as well. So because I look up to them so much, I find it easy to write about them… And thus a response to a three-sentence comment turns into a paragraph. Sorry. But thanks for praising my story so highly! It's a real confidence booster!**

**sakura2112: You won't have to wait long for Charlotte's powers (or Thalie's, for that matter) because there are things I need to introduce in these first few chapters. But I do want to develop relationships and characters more… and introduce Thor and Loki to the girls! xD you're going to like it when that happens, I promise you! I have the whole thing planned out! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, only Charlotte, Thalie, Parker, and the plot**

**And I have to apologize for my (yet again) late update. I got my tonsils and adenoids out last week, and I've been sleeping ever since. All I can say now that my pain is more or less gone is thank the heavens for pain medication. **

**Thanks to for beta-ing the chapter! (Hope I got your user right…)**

**Enjoy, my lovelies~ **

O_O

5/5/13 8:30 p.m.

Dear Diary,

I want to go to sleep and never wake up again. I think I could, if I really tried. I'm already known for sleeping for over 14 hours straight- that's got to be at least half-way to forever.

Not to say today was terrible; it wasn't, not really, just… exhausting. Though a lot of that exhaustion may have come from only having six hours of sleep. You know those people that say adults can survive off of 7 to 8 hours of sleep? Yeah, they're liars.

So, let's start talking about my extremely eventful day, shall we?

O_O

"Charlotte, save what you're writing and pack your computer up! We have to go in five minutes!" Thalie called from her bedroom. She knew Charlotte was still sitting on the couch in her pajamas with her laptop poised carefully on her lap, one hand typing away and the other clenching a mug of hot coffee. After a moment, she heard a shriek from the living room. So Charlotte had finally noticed the time.

"Why didn't you tell me it was so late!?" Charlotte screeched as she ran to the bathroom. "I haven't even showered yet!" Thalie paused in her packing to laugh as she listened to the sound of the shower turning on and the shower curtains being pulled back.

"It's your fault for spending so much time writing when you should've been getting ready." Thalie calmly replied, shouting to make sure she was heard over the sound of the water running.

"Can you stall them when they come? I'm not going to be ready in five minutes!" Charlotte yelled back.

"Fine!" Thalie said, zipping her suitcase closed. There, she was done. Now she just had to finish her hair and makeup and she would be ready for the day. Normally she would've been ready hours ago, being awake at the crack of dawn almost daily, but the last couple of days had been more tiring than usual for the pretty alien. Thalie ran a brush through her thick, wavy, long black hair and pulled it up into a tight ponytail.

She studied herself in the mirror. Due to her grey skin and black lips, there wasn't much she could do in the makeup department, but she swiped eyeliner along her top and bottom eyelids and put on some clear lip gloss. Charlotte had forced her to wear mascara in the past, but she didn't like all that gunk on her eyes.

As soon as she'd put her makeup bag back in her suitcase, the shower turned off. Thalie smirked. "Charlotte, I think that's the fastest shower you've taken all year!" She joked. Charlotte had a habit of taking twenty-minute showers and making the water bill skyrocket.

Charlotte growled from inside the bathroom. "Shut up you tall freak!" She snarled. Thalie rolled her eyes. Charlotte absolutely hated her for being 6'4 when she never grew past 5'1. Apparently both of her parents had been tall and yet she'd gotten the short gene. Whatever a gene was. Charlotte could go on about them for hours but Thalie had yet to figure them out.

A knock at the front door snapped Thalie out of her thoughts.

"Miss Alien! Sexy Stalker! We're here to bring you to the tower!" Tony called from outside.

"Just a second!" Charlotte called, stepping out of the bathroom in a fluffy purple robe and running to her room. As she passed Thalie's door, she stopped and hissed "Now go stall for me!" before continuing down the hall. Thalie resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, instead going to the front door.

"Hi Tony." She said, looking down at him as he stared up at her.

"Wow. You're tall even without the heels." Tony frowned slightly as he looked up at the red-horned alien girl.

"And you sound like Charlotte." She grinned. Then, looking up and seeing the rest of the Avengers crowd waiting in the hallway behind him, she stepped back and opened the door even wider. "Come on in. We'll have to wait a few minutes for Charlotte. She decided to write instead of shower this morning, so she's still getting ready."

"I said stall! Not tell them I got distracted by my book!" Charlotte banged on her wall, the thud echoing through the small apartment.

"Yeah, I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Thalie said. She walked into the living room, the Avengers following behind her. "Can I get any of you something to drink?"

"This place is so small!" Tony remarked, earning himself a smack on the back of the head courtesy of Steve.

"Be polite!" He scolded, glaring down at Tony.

"Huh. So the rumors are true. You two really don't get along." Charlotte walked in wearing skinny jeans and a tank top. She was trying to twist her still-wet blue into a side braid, but quickly growing frustrated with the task. "Thalie!" She whined, finally giving up.

"Got it." She went up to her and finished the braid that Charlotte had just barely managed to start. Charlotte blushed when Steve, Clint, Tony, Bruce, and Natasha started smiling at the sight.

"What are you looking at?" She glared at them, trying to push the blush from her face. The five exchanged glances, and then Clint spoke up.

"You look like a little girl having her hair done by her mommy…" He said, trying to keep a silly grin off his face but failing miserably. When he said it, though, Charlotte's face drained of all color, and she gave him a cold look.

"You think I look like a child?" She said as she slowly approached him. "You think I'm small and cute? You think I'm _short?_"

Clint started backing away slowly. Charlotte was small, but extremely intimidating. "Tasha, could you get your gun out, just in case…?" He said uncertainly, glancing fearfully down at the girl approaching him.

When Charlotte heard the word gun, though, she quickly ran behind Steve squealing, "nonononononononono!" Once safely behind the much larger male, she peeked out from behind him. "Agent Romanoff, I'm begging you, please do NOT take your gun out we already had this conversation and waaaaaahhhhhhh!" She hid back behind Steve. "You wouldn't shoot Steve, would you?"

"Relax, Miss Burns. I'm not going to shoot you." Natasha sighed. And then she turned to look pointedly at Clint. "And Clint, I threatened her with a gun last night, so it's a bit of a sore topic at the moment."

"Oh, sorry." Clint said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Thalie, on the other hand, glared at Natasha.

"You can come out now, S.S." Tony said, peering behind Steve to look at Charlotte.

"What kind of nickname is S-" Charlotte stopped in the middle of her sentence, suddenly becoming stiff.

"Charlotte?" Tony asked, his brows knitting together in confusion as she stared into space.

"Thalie?" Charlotte called, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not snapping back." Thalie, though, had walked to the apartment building lobby to talk to Natasha about, as she put it, "threatening _her _Charlotte with a gun."

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Steve turned around and saw Charlotte frozen where she was standing. "Are you okay? Bruce, come here!"

"Are you okay Miss Burns?" Bruce knelt next to Charlotte and put a hand on her forehead. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Charlotte's sick?" Clint chimed in, leaning towards her.

"No, but I am feeling a bit claustrophobic, you _fucking morons!_" Charlotte screeched. They all backed up, with the exception of Bruce, who, after all, was a doctor. The girl shut her eyes and rested her head in her hands. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and physically relaxed. "Damn…" She sighed. She looked over at Bruce, who immediately registered what had happened.

"Was that a vis-"

"Don't you dare say anything." She cut in. Tony, Steve, and Clint exchanged confused glances, which Charlotte promptly ignored. "Now, Tony, why did you call me "S.S."?"

"It stands for Sexy Stalker!" Tony said cheerily, easily forgetting about what had happened. Everybody face-palmed.

"Really, Tony?" Steve asked, blushing slightly.

"What? It fits! Thalie herself says that she stalks us, and when we met her last night, she was amazingly sexy!" Tony protested, gesturing to her boobs.

"And I'm not now?" Charlotte pouted. Steve stopped listening to the conversation at that point. It was clear that she was just trying to distract from her being, well, sick was the only way he could describe it, earlier. And what had she meant about snapping back?

O_O

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. I mean, if you can call anything having to do with the Avengers uneventful. When Thalie and Natasha (don't let her know that I call her that in here; I'm pretty sure she'd murder me if she knew I called her anything other than "Agent Romanoff") finally came back to the apartment, Natasha apologized for me about the whole threatening-me-with-a-gun-thing, but I think Thal made her do it.

And I made Tony spend a good twenty minutes trying to convince me he thought I was sexy even without my red dress. The number of times he complimented me in that short amount of time was totally worth all the fake-whining I had to do.

But Steve seemed distracted after I got my vision. And Clint seemed scared of me after I all but attacked him. His fault for calling me short. Banner seemed to understand my powers a little more, though I can't say now whether that's a good thing or not.

My vision. It honestly scared me. Normally they only hold for milliseconds, 5-6 seconds at most. But I was stuck looking at myself become surrounded by concerned men for a good minute (lucky me), and I couldn't get back to myself. It was frightening.

Don't get me wrong; it's not like I was suddenly another entity or anything. I could still feel the back of Banner's hand when he checked my temperature, and I still heard everything as if I was in the center of worried Avengers, it was just my vision that was out of whack. All my other senses acted as they normally would.

But still. It scared the daylight outta me.

And I'm even more scared of it happening again.

…

On the other hand, I was unpacking after dinner and-

O_O

"See through panties?" Tony asked, inspecting the small piece of blue fabric. Charlotte's head shot up and she dropped what she was doing, immediately running over to where Tony was hovering over her open suitcase to rip her delicates out of his hands.

"Don't get too excited!" She said frowning and desperately trying to hide a blush. She quickly stuffed her underwear into her suitcase and zipped it shut in a (futile) attempt to stop Tony in his perversions. "Now is there anything you need?" She asked.

"Just came to see how you like your room. And, you know, harass you." Tony grinned, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Charlotte shook her head, slightly exasperated, but smiled back at him.

"The room is amazing. I just can't believe it's all for me." She said, shaking her head. She looked around the room, remembering her reaction to first seeing it earlier that day. It was huge, with big, floor to ceiling windows with an amazing view of New York City. A large, round, white bed sat close to the window, taking up much of the space, though there was room for two white loveseats, a round white coffee table, a fireplace, a desk with a high tech computer, and a television. A very, very big television. All in all, Charlotte was extremely impressed. To say her jaw dropped would be an understatement. Tony had laughed at her reaction and Bruce had patted her on the back, assuring her she'd get used to it.

"Well it is. But it's not nearly as big as my room. Maybe you'd like to come see it later?" Tony wagged his eyebrows, smirking. Charlotte smirked back.

"Maybe." She agreed, throwing a flirtatious smile his way. She grabbed her suitcase and began to drag it over to her enormous walk in closet, Tony following closely behind. After a minute of watching her struggle with its weight, he took the suitcase by the handle and walked it over to the closet with ease. "Fuck you." She said behind him.

"Anytime, my dear~" He all but sang, dropping the luggage on the ground. He looked around the closet. So far, there wasn't much hanging on the racks or sitting on the shelves, just some dresses and heels. Looking at the heels, a thought came to him. "Do you own any shoes without heels?"

"I think I have a pair of sneakers." Charlotte responded, dropping to her knees to continue unpacking. "But they'd be in one of the boxes by the door. Why?"

"You're short." He said, not fearing how she reacted when Clint called her such.

"You are too." She replied casually. "You can't be taller than 5'8. We're of the same people."

"I'm not short!" Tony argued, looking offended.

"You are compared to Steve and Dr. Banner and Clint." She said, raising an eyebrow. So height was a sore topic for the genius millionaire playboy philanthropist, huh? She could see herself being good friends with Tony, with their similar height problems and love of flirting. _But, _she thought, _being more than friends might be hard if he thinks he can date me and still bang other girls. If it ever comes to that, _and she could see it coming to that, very easily in fact, _I'll have to discuss that with him. Maybe have positive and negative reinforcement to encourage him to stay smart._

Tony watched Charlotte as a knowing smirk suddenly spread across her face. "Can't keep those naughty thoughts from entering your head around me, can ya sweetie?" He winked at her. Charlotte snapped out of her thoughts, a blush blooming across her face.

"It's not my fault I'm a sex depraved, hormone filled twenty-three year-old!" She angrily spat back.

"I-I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" A bemused and embarrassed voice came from the door of the closet. Tony and Charlotte looked to see Steve watching them, a deep blush on his face. He had only heard the latter part of their conversation.

"Yes in fact, you are." Tony said in mock seriousness. "I was _about _to fuck Charlotte senseless here on the closet floor until _someone _interrupted." He crossed his arms and sent a glare in Steve's direction, who blushed even harder than before.

"Don't worry Steve. Tony here is just an asshole. You didn't interrupt anything." Charlotte stood from where she was kneeling above her suitcase and walked over to pat the poor man on the back. Well, she tried to pat his back, but since she was so short and had taken off her heels to pack, she could only manage an awkward pat on his arm. Still, the blush faded from Steve's face and he noticeably relaxed. "So what's up? I hope you didn't come here to ask me how I like my room and creep on my underwear like _some people_."

"Um, no." Steve said, red returning to his face at the thought of a woman's unmentionables. "I came to tell you that the head of SHEILD is coming to see you tomorrow. You'll have to show him what you can do, because he has the final word on whether or not you stay. I already warned Thalie, and she's ready, but I wanted to know if there's anything you need to prepare." He finished calmly, but was startled when he saw the blood drain from Charlotte's face. "Charlotte? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, um, could you guys leave now? I need to get ready." She said, moving to grab her diary from her bag.

"Y-Yeah." Steve said uncertainly.

"Okay. Well I'll be waiting in my room if you want to take me up on my offer." Tony joked lightly, wary of Charlotte's sudden mood change.

"Yeah." Charlotte said absentmindedly, searching for a pen. The two men left her room, exchanging confused glances. Once they were out, Charlotte plopped down on her bed and began writing.

O_O

So yeah. You might be wondering why that's a bad thing, Diary.

I'm scared of them. My powers, I mean.

I can control my flying and levitating well enough, but you have to understand that I know nothing about them. And they didn't appear at the same time. As I grew and matured both physically, I found I was able to do more. I have always had a perfect memory, but I didn't have my visions until I started going through puberty when I was twelve, and I couldn't fly or levitate until I was sixteen. So there's a chance that they could develop even further, and if that happens, I could hurt someone.

And though that's a pretty depressing way to end an entry, I'm too tired to write anymore. Not that I'll be able to sleep tonight. See you tomorrow.

-Charlotte Burns


End file.
